Dr Calvin Ho's research focusses on the explication of the normative (i.e. legal and ethical) and social implications of health and biotechnologies, as well as the responses to these concerns through policy and regulatory governance. His research also includes medical law and ethics, and the normative aspects of health systems (especially on health insurance and access to health) and global health.

Dr Ho holds a doctorate in juridical science from Cornell University (New York), and was also trained in law at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the University of Cambridge (England). In addition, he read sociology and economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and at the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London). Dr Ho is qualified as Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore, and as Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. He has practiced law in London and Singapore with Messrs Linklaters Allen & Gledhill, and has served as a medicolegal expert advisor to the Medical Protection Society (MPS). Dr Ho is currently an Ethics Board member of Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), Co-Head of the Accountability Policy Task Team of the Global Alliance for Genomics & Health; and a research affiliate with the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford.

Prior to joining HKU, Dr Ho was Assistant Professor at the Centre for Biomedical Ethics at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, NUS; Co-Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Bioethics in Singapore; and Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bioethics Review. Additionally, he has served as a statutory board member of the Singapore Nursing Board, the Legal Aid Bureau of the Ministry of Law of Singapore, as well as on national advisory committees on transplantation and on genetic testing of the Ministry of Health of Singapore.